


Understanding

by thingyoudowiththatthing



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Mention of torture, mention of Hydra, mention of brainwashing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-20 13:33:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22018180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thingyoudowiththatthing/pseuds/thingyoudowiththatthing
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Wanda Maximoff
Kudos: 27





	Understanding

Wanda hadn’t been what Bucky expected, not that he could tell you what he had expected. She looked young and there was a glow of innocence about her. Steve hadn’t told him much about her when they first met. Truth be told there hadn’t been time and Bucky suspected she hadn’t known much about him either. 

Yet all it took for her to offer him a smile was one look. It had taken Bucky by surprise. He couldn’t remember the last time a pretty girl had smiled so genuinely at him. Especially not knowing who he was. What he was. 

Yet she smiled and she helped him. She saved him and fought with him and Steve. She trusted him. Maybe because she trusted Steve but even then Bucky had expected it went beyond that. 

When she had arrived in Wakanda a few weeks later Bucky had been in cryo but he felt her. He felt her watching over him along with Steve. He felt in front of the glass with the princess, talking. Trying to find a way to save him. In the end, her powers had been the key to rid his mind of the triggers. She had been the key that unlocked Bucky’s mind and gave him his life back. 

She had been there through his recovery, sharing her own story with him. A story of loss and pain, much like his own and suddenly Bucky understood. The reason why she had seen through him so easily hadn’t been because of her powers. It had been because she was a kindred spirit. 

Sure a lot of what had been done to her she had consented too, at least in the eyes of the government, but Bucky knew HYDRA and these experiments. No one could consent to something like that. Consent meant understanding and those experiments were crueler than any mind could think up. No adult could understand and agree to something like that, let alone a child. 

She had lost a brother when she finally found a way out of their control. She had found another family in Steve, Nat Clint, and Sam, but she still felt alone.

Bucky had lost an entire family, his life and time. He had regained some of it and by some miracle, the man he had considered a brother since childhood was still at his side. Steve wanted to help, but Bucky didn’t know how to take it or even if he deserved the help or not. Wanda understood that. She felt guilty about her choices and no matter the good she did, she still felt like she had something to make up for. She hadn’t, just like Bucky knew he hadn’t had a choice in all the bad he had done. That didn’t change how he felt, so he understood her. He didn’t blame her, but her feelings were valid. 

He also understood feeling alone in a world surrounded by people that wanted to help. Missing things that could have been. 

Unless when he was with her. The world felt right again when they were sitting out in front of a small hut in Wakanda looking at the sun setting. Bucky felt right when she reached out for his hand without taking her eyes off the horizon. He smiled giving it a small squeeze as he watched a smile creep up on her face, more beautiful than a million sunsets. Just like that, he knew he wouldn’t ever feel completely alone again, because she understood him, just like he did her. 


End file.
